Das Racist Breaks Up (videos)

Das Racist, the endlessly irreverent slacker-art-rap outfit behind "Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell" and "Rainbow in the Dark", has called it quits.

It’s a sad week for Pizza Huts and Taco Bells. Das Racist, the endlessly irreverent slacker-art-rap outfit behind “Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell” and “Rainbow in the Dark”, has called it quits. Heems announced the news at what would have been a group performance at Munich’s On3 Festival, telling the crowd, “I’m going to do some Das Racist songs, but Das Racist is breaking up and we’re not a band anymore.” Bandmate Kool A.D. later tweeted that he left the band two months prior, unbeknownst to fans:

The Village Voiceasked Das Racist in 2009, “Is this a joke that everyone thinks is a graduate thesis, or vice versa?” Kool A.D.‘s all-caps reply seems to sum up the group’s fortuitous existence: “WHY ARE YOU VALIDATING THE FALSE DICHOTOMY OF JOKES VS. SERIOUS SHIT? ” As we reflect on the end of what often seems like a shockingly successful joke-rap prank, here’s a glimpse back at the earlier highlights from Das Racist’s career:

Zach Schonfeld is a writer and former associate editor for PopMatters and a reporter for Newsweek. His writing has also appeared on Rolling Stone, TIME, Consequence of Sound, The Nation, USA Today College, The Rumpus, The Columbia Journalism Review, Paste Magazine, and the Hartford Courant. He can be reached at zschonfeld(at)gmail(dot)com or on Twitter @zzzzaaaacccchhh.